Every Day
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.
(summary from goodreads.com)
I'm not sure exactly what to say about this book. It was built around a fascinating premise, and though some general inconsistencies drove me crazy it was still a book that stayed with me long after the last page was read. I liked the main character and the ethical struggle he went through as he lived his life, or at least tried to, without unduly influencing others. And what a heartbreaking existence! So sad. I delight in solitude, as any good introvert, but I can do that because I also take great comfort in being loved, by belonging. By being surrounded by people and things that are cherished because of their continuity. And "A" had none of that comfort. What a horribly aimless, disconnected life.
The main problem I had with this book had to do with personal beliefs; I strongly believe that gender is an inherent part of a person. End of story. For A to claim to be ungendered, or bigender, or whatever, seemed unnecessary. Even transgenders still subscribe to a specific gender, though it be opposite to their biological gender. I also felt every "host" had an agenda - each was a short PSA on different social issues of the day. I was annoyed by A's inability to understand the difficulties Rhiannon dealt with. Could he really not understand how nigh impossible it would be to be in love with a different body every day? This book certainly opened up questions about the importance of attraction in a relationship, the importance of our physical shells. I think attraction is very important, especially during the initial stages of flirtation and budding relationships, but even more important is the familiarity of a beloved face. If my husband of (almost) 17 years underwent a huge physical change it wouldn't really matter - he would still be the man I married so many years ago (of course, if he all of a sudden switched genders on me there would be BIG problems. Would I still love him? Yes. Would I love him in the exact same way? Honestly no - but I think for him to want to SWITCH genders he would have to be a significantly different person than he is now, but I digress. Wildly. BIG digression.) But oh so long ago if I "liked" a boy and he completely changed what he looked like every single day? From day one? That would just be weird. You could never get a handle on who he "was". You could never picture him or dream about him or obsess over pictures of him. Even in other fiction where there is transmogrifying (magical or otherwise) and such there is usually still a "person" after all the changes are done. A standard. A "real" and "true" appearance. And even A felt attraction was important - he waxes eloquent about how beautiful Rhiannon was. And then my next question, could A really not understand that it was difficult for Rhiannon when "he" (for lack of a better word) was a female? Really? Even in this day and age of relaxed social mores and sexual flexibility, it's perfectly acceptable to love and be attracted to only one gender. It was also unbelieving how A couldn't see the logistical barriers to a longterm, intimate relationship. Spending every day driving sometimes hours to see her? Abandoning someone's body far away from their home every single day? Or taking the time to then return it? And that doesn't consider Rhiannon's problem - dropping everything in her life, every single day, to spend time with him. Um, NOT a healthy relationship, but then again I thought she was manipulated through most of their relationship. Even if his theory about living in a large city was correct - could he really take someone away from their home/job/life just so he could live HIS life? Never being able to introduce your love to your friends, family, coworkers. Never having a life with him beyond the very confined walls of "coupledom". And those questions don't even take into account the question of intimacy. Wouldn't using someone else's body in that way be almost be akin to rape? And then the ending. No sweet closure here. There was no way to solve all of the problems but I can't say I loved how it DID end. REALLY? It's like if my husband died but before he did he set me up with his "replacement". REALLY? Poor Rhiannon, manipulated again.
As I mentioned, this book made me think. Obviously. A lot. Long after I had finished reading it, so in that way it succeeded in spades. A very thought provoking book filled with uncomfortable questions. I had to remind myself to stop stressing, it was FICTION. There really AREN'T benign (or otherwise) entities possessing random people for 24 hours before moving on to another Host. Phew.
__________________________________________________
I'm not sure exactly what to say about this book. It was built around a fascinating premise, and though some general inconsistencies drove me crazy it was still a book that stayed with me long after the last page was read. I liked the main character and the ethical struggle he went through as he lived his life, or at least tried to, without unduly influencing others. And what a heartbreaking existence! So sad. I delight in solitude, as any good introvert, but I can do that because I also take great comfort in being loved, by belonging. By being surrounded by people and things that are cherished because of their continuity. And "A" had none of that comfort. What a horribly aimless, disconnected life.
The main problem I had with this book had to do with personal beliefs; I strongly believe that gender is an inherent part of a person. End of story. For A to claim to be ungendered, or bigender, or whatever, seemed unnecessary. Even transgenders still subscribe to a specific gender, though it be opposite to their biological gender. I also felt every "host" had an agenda - each was a short PSA on different social issues of the day. I was annoyed by A's inability to understand the difficulties Rhiannon dealt with. Could he really not understand how nigh impossible it would be to be in love with a different body every day? This book certainly opened up questions about the importance of attraction in a relationship, the importance of our physical shells. I think attraction is very important, especially during the initial stages of flirtation and budding relationships, but even more important is the familiarity of a beloved face. If my husband of (almost) 17 years underwent a huge physical change it wouldn't really matter - he would still be the man I married so many years ago (of course, if he all of a sudden switched genders on me there would be BIG problems. Would I still love him? Yes. Would I love him in the exact same way? Honestly no - but I think for him to want to SWITCH genders he would have to be a significantly different person than he is now, but I digress. Wildly. BIG digression.) But oh so long ago if I "liked" a boy and he completely changed what he looked like every single day? From day one? That would just be weird. You could never get a handle on who he "was". You could never picture him or dream about him or obsess over pictures of him. Even in other fiction where there is transmogrifying (magical or otherwise) and such there is usually still a "person" after all the changes are done. A standard. A "real" and "true" appearance. And even A felt attraction was important - he waxes eloquent about how beautiful Rhiannon was. And then my next question, could A really not understand that it was difficult for Rhiannon when "he" (for lack of a better word) was a female? Really? Even in this day and age of relaxed social mores and sexual flexibility, it's perfectly acceptable to love and be attracted to only one gender. It was also unbelieving how A couldn't see the logistical barriers to a longterm, intimate relationship. Spending every day driving sometimes hours to see her? Abandoning someone's body far away from their home every single day? Or taking the time to then return it? And that doesn't consider Rhiannon's problem - dropping everything in her life, every single day, to spend time with him. Um, NOT a healthy relationship, but then again I thought she was manipulated through most of their relationship. Even if his theory about living in a large city was correct - could he really take someone away from their home/job/life just so he could live HIS life? Never being able to introduce your love to your friends, family, coworkers. Never having a life with him beyond the very confined walls of "coupledom". And those questions don't even take into account the question of intimacy. Wouldn't using someone else's body in that way be almost be akin to rape? And then the ending. No sweet closure here. There was no way to solve all of the problems but I can't say I loved how it DID end. REALLY? It's like if my husband died but before he did he set me up with his "replacement". REALLY? Poor Rhiannon, manipulated again.
As I mentioned, this book made me think. Obviously. A lot. Long after I had finished reading it, so in that way it succeeded in spades. A very thought provoking book filled with uncomfortable questions. I had to remind myself to stop stressing, it was FICTION. There really AREN'T benign (or otherwise) entities possessing random people for 24 hours before moving on to another Host. Phew.
Mom note: As
a mother of readers, I also
want to make a note to myself (and others if they care) why I would or
would not have my children read this book, because honestly, sometimes I
forget. This is a YA book, so everything is within YA strictures.
Violence: mild; Profanity: moderate; Sex: almost, with some discussion
No comments:
Post a Comment